Free summer events for families at Turlough Park this July and August

If you’re quietly piecing together the summer schedule and trying to figure out what the kids will actually enjoy (as opposed to what looks good on paper and results in someone crying in a car park), this one’s worth your attention. The National Museum of Ireland at Turlough Park in Castlebar has a packed summer programme lined up — and the best part is that it’s free.

From poetry afternoons and traditional outdoor games to a live-craft celebration and a brown bear that will genuinely stop children in their tracks, there’s a real mix of things to do across July and August. Whether you’re local to Mayo or planning a day out with a bit of a drive, it’s the kind of place that earns its keep without costing you a fortune at the door.

Games, boules and getting outdoors

Saturday, 18 July is shaping up to be a brilliant day at Turlough Park. The museum is hosting a celebration of play — the uncomplicated, get-outside-and-move kind — starting with a drop-in pétanque session from 11am to 1pm. Members of Castlebar Pétanque Club will be on hand to show visitors how the game works, and no booking is needed. It’s the sort of low-pressure activity that actually suits a family morning out: easy to pick up, satisfying to play and nobody has to be brilliant at it.

Later that same afternoon, from 2pm to 4pm, Museum educators will be running a session of traditional Irish outdoor games. Think Queenie I O, Snap the Bacon, Red Rover and 5 Slates — the ones your own mam probably played and that your kids have almost certainly never heard of. Delivered in association with Mayo Sports Partnership, it’s free to attend and no booking is required. Honestly, there’s something lovely about watching children discover that a game with no screen attached can actually be great craic.

A poetry afternoon and a bear you won’t forget

For the grown-ups who could do with an hour that doesn’t involve snacks requests or someone needing the toilet at a critical moment, the museum is hosting a poetry afternoon on Saturday, 4 July. Members of the Turlough Poetry Collective will read their work from 2pm to 3pm, accompanied by piper Diarmaid Moynihan. It’s free but spaces are limited so booking in advance through museum.ie is essential.

Running throughout the summer until September 2026 is the exhibition The Murmur of Bees, which explores Ireland’s bee species in a way that’s genuinely engaging for all ages. The exhibition features every known Irish bee species alongside nests, insect-related artefacts and objects from the National Folklife Collection. And then there’s the brown bear. A striking taxidermy specimen on loan from the Natural History Collections in Dublin is currently on display, and if your children are anything like most children, it will be the thing they talk about on the way home.

National Heritage Week in August

National Heritage Week runs from 15 to 23 August 2026 and Turlough Park has two events worth putting in the diary. On Sunday, 16 August from 1pm to 4pm, there will be live craft demonstrations from basketmaker Tom Delaney, woodworker Eoin Reardon and stonemason Dominic Keogh. It’s the kind of event where kids can watch something being made with actual hands, and that’s genuinely rarer than it should be. Admission is free and no booking is required.

Then on Sunday, 23 August at 3pm, Irish Folklife curator Tiernan Gaffney will give a talk titled Lámha Ciúine: Ireland’s quiet loss of traditional skills. It looks at the history of traditional craftspeople and the communities that once depended on them, as well as how the museum is working to preserve and support those skills today. Booking is required for this one via museum.ie.

Admission to the National Museum of Ireland at Turlough Park House and Gardens is free. The exhibition galleries are open Tuesday to Saturday from 10am to 5pm, and Sunday to Monday from 1pm to 5pm. Full details and booking links for events that require them are available at museum.ie.